Friday, 12 November 2021 | Gajendra Singh Negi
Meddling Minister
A minister of Pushkar Singh Dhami cabinet has become so engrossed in the affairs of district allotted to him in his capacity as the minister in-charge that he is facing stiff resistance from the local workers and leaders of the saffron party. This antipathy towards the minister openly came into the fore in the recent programme of CM in Purola when his presence on the stage was objected to by the party workers and local leaders. Slogans were also raised against him for his undue interference in the functioning of the district unit and favouring the workers of the Congress party. The party workers of the neighbouring Gangotri assembly segment too are miffed at him for showering unwarranted favour on a contractor with Congress background. They allege that this contractor who was on the verge of getting bankrupt walked away with a lucrative contract of road construction with the blessings of the Mantri Ji. The supporters of this Shaktiman fame minister point out that instead of poking his nose in the affairs of alien territory and getting stung, the leader should focus on his own constituency.
Holiday happiness
With the crucial elections of the state assembly drawing closer the ruling BJP government of Uttarakhand has gone on an overdrive to keep all the sections of the society in good humour. Apart from making a slew of announcements, the government has adopted the tried and trusted formula of declaring public holidays on occasions or festivals associated with the sentiments of people. The holiday declaration is an easy preposition for the governments since it involves no mobilisation of resources. The only loss however is that of governance which actually is nothing when looked from the larger perspective of the politicians. The Dhami government’s decision to declare holidays on the festivals of Chatth and Igaas (Dev Deepawali) should be looked into in this context. The declaration of holiday on Chhath which obviously was aimed to please a sizable population of people of Bihar and eastern UP triggered a demand that the government should declare holiday on Dev Deepawali and since the issue was associated with sentiments of local people, a holiday on Igaas was promptly declared.
Mask task
The adage that public memory is short lived is proved by the fearlessness being witnessed among the general public of the Himalayan state towards the lethal virus of Covid-19. The masks have all but vanished and the Covid appropriate behaviour has become a thing of the past. Though the vaccination drive is going on at a good pace and the cases of the disease have reduced substantially one should not forget that the third wave of the disease has already arrived in many parts of the world and the guard against the dreaded disease should not be dropped. The advice of experts that being vaccinated does not mean that one cannot contract the virus should be heeded with all the seriousness it deserves. Uttarakhand is more vulnerable to the disease since it is a state with a high inflow of tourists and has an environment conducive for the spread of the virus so both the administration and people should work in tandem to stall any possibility of initiation of the third wave in the state.
